At least eleven people including Bangladeshis were killed in a fire in Saudi Arabia that ripped through a windowless house on Wednesday.

Those hurt and killed in the blaze were all from India and Bangladesh, according to the civil defence of Saudi Arabia.

However, the number of Bangladeshi victims could not be ascertained immediately.

AFP: "Firefighters put out a blaze in an old house lacking windows for ventilation. Eleven people died of asphyxiation, and six others were injured" in the southern province of Najran, the civil defence said in a tweet.

The casualties all hailed from India and Bangladesh, it said.

Nine million foreigners work in the kingdom, many of them from South Asia, according to the last official figures released in 2015.

Rights groups have called on Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to end the widespread kafala -- or sponsorship -- system, which severely restricts the rights of migrant labourers.

These workers cannot leave the country or switch jobs without written permission from their current employer under kafala, and employers often confiscate their passports and travel documents.